Bubble Gum and Lollipops
by J. Avery
Summary: Benson wasn't being paranoid. This girl obviously wasn't up to any good. Obviously.


A/N: God. It hurt writing this. I do think BenPop is cute but I felt Mordecai and Benson glaring at me for this betrayal. I'm sorry if this sucks, futureauthor13. I tried! Enjoy, and up next? Chapter 17!

Benson was in the golf cart, on his way to the garage, when he heard Pops' giggling.

Normally this didn't concern Benson. Pops was a giggly person. But he told Benson he'd be inside all day. So Benson curiously parked the cart and followed the lollipop man's laughter to a green table near the swing set. Pops was drinking tea with an unfamiliar little girl with black pigtails, a gray and white baby doll dress and shiny black dress shoes. Benson kept his eye on her as he approached the two and asked Pops sweetly, "Pops!… Whose your new friend?"

Pops took a breath but laughed out, "Benson! Benson my good man, I must introduce you to Adeline!"

"Greetings Mr. Benson," the girl revealed to be Adeline shyly said.

"Hello, Adeline…" said Benson, slowly. "I haven't seen you around. Did you just move here?"

"Yes! I moved here with my mama and papa-" she held up two fingers, "These many years ago!"

Pops clasped his hands so giddily. "Oh Benson! Aren't we the worst? Such a wonderful little lady and we haven't even sent over a welcome platter!"

"I feel terrible." Benson said dryly.

The Adeline girl giggled. Her voice reminded Benson of the Chipmunks. "Don't! Pops is making it up to me by throwing the loveliest tea party!" Adeline gracefully moved her little arm above the green table to showcase the tiny cherry pastries Pops had laid out. Benson surveyed the whole thing, and concluded Pops had indeed baked them himself (they had lollipops sticking out of them).

"A moon or so ago, Adeline was in her lonesome t all by the metal wonderland. Ever since then, we've been inseparable."

Benson translated Pops' speech in his head, "You guys met by the children's park a month ago?"

"Indeed!" Pops confirmed.

_How could I have not noticed this girl? _

"That's nice… Pops? I thought you said you were going to be inside all day?"

Pops blinked, then laughed heartily. "I was! After our tea party, I'm going right back in."

It was innocent enough, Benson supposed. "You two enjoy your tea party then. Goodbye." Benson smiled, got back into the golf cart and waved goodbye to Pops and Adeline.

Pops wildly waved, "Ta, ta!"

"So long!" Adeline sang. "And remember! I don't hold it against you that I never got a welcome platter!" Adeline smiled wide and crossed her legs like a perfect little debutante.

Benson made a puzzled face as he drove away, and he had no idea why he was gripping the steering wheel a bit tighter than necessary.

"Cole Porter was a genius!" Pops exclaimed whilst cracking his knuckles. Benson sat next to the lollipop man as he prepared to play something on his baby grand. There were (he couldn't believe it himself) extremely rare moments when Benson didn't worry about bills. Or weird monster attacks on the house. Or Mr. Maellard giving him the third degree. He'd just enjoy Pops' company. The way Pops saw the world was… Refreshing. Naïve maybe, and little a bit ditzy, but really refreshing.

"I still prefer Morrissey. Something about The Smiths just makes me buzz." Benson said with a sigh. He observed the way Pops' face scrunched up in discontent. It made him grin.

Pops said worriedly, "Filthy ruffians… Jumping about on stage… Don't they have jobs? Where are their mothers?"

"I'm sure they said the same thing about Cole Porter." Benson teased.

"Oh no they didn't. I can assure you that. Cole Porter was of the same caliber as… Why as Amadeus Mozart! Which is why I'm playing one of his songs for you."

The fact Pops was practicing a song for him made Benson turn to jelly inside. Anytime Pops did something for him it made Benson smile. Nobody did anything specifically for Benson, even when he asked. "That's so sweet of you Pops. Do you mind if I ask why?"

Benson rested his head on one hand. Pops' face became a darker shade of pink. "Sometimes, people deserve nice things done for them. Now is one of those times for you." Pops put his fingers to the keys, but couldn't goad himself into playing. "At least it _could_ be if I can remember how the darn song begins…"

It was enough Pops had the intention. Really, it was.

"Don't stress out about it." Benson laid a hand on Pops' shoulder, and he felt the knots and tangles inside the older man unwind with his touch. Pops was really worrying himself with this song.

"Very well then." Pops cracked his knuckles once more. He breathed in. Then out. Put his fingers on the keys…

"Hello, hello, hello!" A squeaky voice said from Pops' dresser. "Come in Poppy, this is Adeline! I've located some lemon drops!"

"Good show!" said Pops as he got up from the wooden bench. Benson felt weirdly dejected, when he became distanced from Pops.

"What the heck is that? Did those squirrels get into the helium tanks in the basement?" Benson looked around Pops' room. Pops laughed at his ignorance.

"_Silly! _That's Adeline! She gave me a walkie talkie three days ago. So we could correspond after her bedtime." Pops went to his dresser and said into his talkie, "Roger Adeline! I shall meet you near the fountain!"

"I thought you were going to play?" Benson asked. He replayed his voice in his mind and scolded himself. Was he coming off as needy? Pops didn't have to be with him all the time… He understood that. Really.

"I will! I promise after I meet Adeline." Pops hugged Benson tightly. Benson specifically told Pops he wasn't a fan of hugs (and no he wasn't lying just to get out of them), but every once and a while he'd let himself melt into them. Pops let Benson go and strolled off downstairs.

Benson sat at the wooden bench, glaring at the spot where Pops' walkie talkie once laid.

Pops didn't even stay inside the house for the next couple weeks. Benson would catch glimpses of him around the park. With Adeline. And drinking tea… With Adeline… And singing odd songs (that Benson told Pops he despised but only laughed when Pops sang louder) with Adeline. The only thing he _didn't_ do with Adeline was use the bathroom. At least Benson _hoped_ they weren't doing that together. Anyway, Benson was coming from upstairs when he heard giggling from the kitchen.

"Pops!" the gumball machine called to out. "Pops, are you in the kitchen?" Benson stopped when he saw Adeline in the kitchen. The girl looked lost. She stood at attention with her shiny black shoes pointing towards Benson and the revolving kitchen door.

She looked up at him with the most pleading of eyes. Benson cracked his knuckles. "Oh my! Hello Mr. Benson!"

"Hello Adeline… Were you just with Pops?"

"Poppy and I were looking for napkins!"

The nickname Adeline had given Pops made Benson wince. "Oh. I don't think we have anymore." Benson said as he walked over to a cabinet. As he went up on his toes to reach it, Adeline kept talking.

"I think it's just swell that you run Pops' papa's park. And such a beautiful park it is!"

"Thank you Adeline." Benson grunted. He saw the napkins but they were all the way in the back.

"Poppy is so much fun! And he plays the piano wonderfully." Adeline said.

The girl's cutesy voice was beginning to irritate Benson. But it wasn't because Adeline was talking about Pops… No… The girl just had an annoying voice. As she spoke her black hair (then in curls) bounced and she smiled once and awhile to reveal she had perfect teeth. "You've heard him play?" Benson asked. Pops never just played his piano for _anyone_. And anyway, Benson never remembered Adeline coming over to the house. Benson's sure he would have recalled it if it were in fact true. "When was this?"

"Oh… Many, many moons ago…" Adeline answered, detachedly. "But honestly. Poppy's glorious!"

"Yes… He's quite a piano aficionado."

Adeline tilted her head. "Huh?"

"It's a big word for someone who is really, really good at something." It was the truth. Pops could glide his fingers across the baby grand in his bedroom and get Benson to feel things he never knew existed. The memory of the mini concert Pops put on for him last year for his birthday made Benson grin.

"A-fishy-knot-dough… Lovely!"

Benson got a handful of napkins and pulled, which made a box of sugar fall to the ground and spill. Benson groaned and bent down to pick up the spilled sugar, but Adeline instantly dropped to her knees and put handful after handful of the sugar into her mouth. Benson saw the girl's eyes go wide and manic as she shoveled the sweet crystals in. Eventually she had eaten all of the sugar up, and stood in front of an awestruck Benson. "Yummy!"

"Adeline… You just ate a _month's_ worth of sugar."

Adeline giggled. "I like you Mr. Benson! No wonder you were Pops' best friend!" The girl skipped off. Benson swallowed. He considered calling Adeline back so she could get her napkins, but he closed his mouth when he realized what she had just said.

"…_You were Pops' best friend." _

Benson interrupted Adeline and Pops' tea party the next week.

"Pops, could I talk to you for a moment?"

Pops pardoned himself and walked with Benson back to the house. While walking back, Benson turned around to see Adeline staring back with a sweet smile. Benson successfully kept himself from grimacing.

Pops smiled at Benson when they got to the porch and sat on the uppermost stairs. "Whatever can I do for you Benson?"

_Okay. Okay… How do I phrase this?… _

"Pops, I think we should talk about some things…"

"Oh~" Pops wondered with bright eyes. "About what things? Ferrets?"

Benson laughed, "No not ferrets, Pops."

"Either way, we cannot talk for long I'm afraid. Adeline is the best tea party guest, I mustn't keep her waiting." Adeline's name made Benson's smile fall completely. "She tells the most humorous jokes, and she's always so pleasant and telling me how lovely my piano playing is-"

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about." Pops was confused but nodded, and Benson continued. "I think… Maybe… Adeline is spending too much time…" As Benson was completing the thought he saw Pops became visibly upset. "Around… Here…"

"But she's my friend." Pops laughed, not understanding.

"Really Pops? You said yourself you haven't known her for very long."

"What on Earth is that supposed to mean?"

Pops' voice took on a whole different tone. It was defensive and irritated. But more importantly, it was directed at _Benson_. "Nothing. I'm not trying to imply anything. I'm simply saying, your new friend could… Not be so friendly."

Pops shook his head and furrowed his brow. "I don't understand."

"Sometimes… And this is only sometimes… There are people who reveal things about themselves and-this is certain people- present themselves in a way that maybe indicates… That something's loose upstairs…" Benson said the last bit under his breath.

"Well that isn't particularly fair!" Pops protested. "People aren't always who they appear to be." Benson closed his eyes. He was getting a headache trying to explain this whole thing to Pops. "That sometimes is true... But I'm really not sure about-" "Take you for instance!" Pops exclaimed. Benson blinked surprised while Pops continued with a gentle grin. "At first, everyone sees a grumpy old gumball machine who works too hard. But if they got to know you like I do, they'd see a very swell person... Who is only moderately grumpy." Pops beamed at Benson, and the gumball machine felt his heart jump up and down. "You think I'm 'swell'" ? Pops nodded. "The grumpiest, swellest gumball machine man I know!"

Benson, while letting the smile run from his face once more, rubbed his eyes. Then he remembered something that was bothering him. "Pops? Has Adeline been over the house to hear you play your piano?"

"Oh yes! Many times! She even calls me an aficionado!"

"Really?" Benson felt his jaw clench. "What a big vocabulary for such a little girl."

"I know!" Pops clapped his hands and hopped off the porch. Before he left, Pops spun around and beamed. "Isn't she just the sweetest?"

Benson took a breath. He nodded slowly and forcibly smiled. "Sweet as sugar."

"You ever see a little girl around the park, Skips?"

Benson was finishing up the reports for that week as Skips was changing the light bulbs in the office. Skips furrowed his eyebrows in thought, then his face relaxed.

"Black hair, looks to be about seven, dresses like it's still 1809?"

"Yeah."

"Pops and her were havin' a tea parties all last week," Skips admitted.

Benson placed the pen he was writing with down and leaned into his swivel chair. "It's like this girl popped out of nowhere. She said her parents moved here four years ago but… I think I would have noticed this girl before." Skips turned on the lamp next to Benson's desk. He turned it off, then studied his boss.

"Somethin' about her bother ya?"

"No, it's just. Pops usually doesn't have tea parties with random children. And she's just… She's always got this smile on her face… She's very prim and precise… Like a walking, talking, porcelain doll… I've never seen this girl frown or cry or _anything _other than smile and giggle…"

Skips shrugged, "Like Pops."

"Well, yeah, but. It's not just that, I swear it's more than that," Benson shook his head. "… I spilled what seemed to be two tons of sugar on the floor some days ago and she ducked for it like some sort of… _Sugar fiend_…" Skips nodded silently, but Benson knew better than to not read into that gesture. "What?"

"Nothin'." Skips said, monotone as always.

"Seriously, what?" Benson slumped in his chair while Skips internally debated whether or not he should say what was on his mind. He eventually decided to let Benson know what he thought.

"It sounds to me… I mean, it _sounds_… Like you're jealous."

Benson bent his head back and cackled like a witch. "Me? _Jealous_? You think _I'm_ jealous?" Benson laughed and laughed while he spun around his chair. Skips stood patiently, waiting for his boss to finish laughing. "_You_ think I'm _jealous_!"

"I'm just sayin'… That's what it sounds like."

"Skips. _Skips_. Why on Earth would I be jealous of a **little girl**?"

Skips shrugged again. "You tell me."

Benson rolled his eyes then picked up his black pen. Skips gave him a good laugh, really, but it was time to get back to work. "I have to finish these reports. Could you tell Pops to come in for lunch please?" Skips skipped off and left his boss to his work. Benson resumed filling in the forms and columns, when he grumbled to himself, "Jealous of _what_?"

Benson obviously had to take a closer look. That Adeline was anything but normal, and as park manager he had to make sure Pops wasn't in any distress. He wasn't being paranoid. He was doing his job. Of course, Benson knew that him looming over Pops and Adeline's tea parties would be, in a word, _creepy_, so he asked Skips to… Observe the two.

"Ya want me to go spyin' on Pops and a little girl?" Skips said, voice heavy with fifty different accusations.

Benson gasped in offense, "No! I simply mean go in their general area and… Y'know."

"No," Skips said. "I don't know. I think you're drivin' yourself crazy over this Adeline situation."

While in front of the house, Skips sat on the bottommost steps of the stairs and stared Benson like he was going crazy. And maybe he was. This girl (who magically appeared in the park, even though she'd been living in the area for two years) could have been anyone. She could have been a dwarf masquerading as a child. Benson saw _Orphan_, he knew those things happened. "You wouldn't be saying that if you saw what she did! She ducked for that sugar like Whitney Houston at Studio 54!" Benson defended feverishly. "This girl is bad news!" Skips shook his head disapprovingly and skipped off towards his house, not wanting to discuss anything further. Benson crossed his arms in annoyance. "Fine! But this is going down as insubordination!" Skips wouldn't help him? Fine. Unfortunately, the only people left were Mordecai and Rigby. Benson cringed at his options. But Pops' well being was on the line.

The two best friends were laying under an oak tree when Benson approached them. When they noticed their boss, the two shot up and started raking leaves they were supposed to be raking in the first place.

"We're raking the leaves Benson, don't worry!" Mordecai exclaimed, smiling hard.

"Yeah!" Rigby cosigned, "We're raking the leaves! We weren't sitting under that tree taking a break for the past three hours!"

"Don't wet your undies." Benson said flatly. "I need you guys to do something for me." Mordecai and Rigby stopped raking, then waited for the catch. Benson rolled his eyes. "It's not a trick or anything."

"What do you want us to do?" Rigby asked. His eyes were squinted in suspicion.

"You see Pops? And that little girl he's sitting with?" Benson pointed at the two. "Watch them for the remainder of the day."

Mordecai looked in the direction Benson was pointing, then raised an eyebrow. "You want us to spy on a little girl all day?"

"It's not spying." Benson began to get irritated explaining that to everyone.

"Psh! As long as we're not raking these stupid leaves I don't care." Rigby was already gone, while Mordecai stayed behind, still uncertain.

Mordecai asked, puzzled, "Is this, like, a test or something? Because I don't see what this will teach us." Benson inhaled, then spoke slowly.

"I just need you to look after Pops and that little girl. Report anything and everything weird that happens."

"What do you mean by weird?"

"Weird. Odd. Whatever. Just report it."

Benson shooed Mordecai off, and he went reluctantly after Rigby.

Benson was in his office once more, approving over snack bar orders, when Mordecai and Rigby came to him. He swiftly shoved all the paperwork in a drawer and watched his employees run into his office with smiles on their faces and chocolate bars in their hands.

"Why do you two have chocolate bars?" Benson asked uneasily.

"Adeline!" Rigby squealed. "This little girl is mind-blowing! I mean, we tried to spy on her and everything, then Pops was like 'Oh~ I see you behind the bushes!' and then Adeline-"

Mordecai interrupted, "Adeline had all this candy and we ate like, tons and tons-"

"Then out of freakin' nowhere she's quoting _Young Guns II_!" Rigby finished, smiling wide with crazy, sugar rushed eyes.

Benson's mouth became agape. "Did you notice anything off about her? _Anything_? Anything at all?"

"Well if awesomeness is weird, that little girl is the weirdest!" Rigby laughed.

"How did she know we were LDP fans? And that I liked almonds in my chocolate?" Mordecai laughed as well, observing his chocolate.

"What the hell?"

Benson seethed as Rigby put the chocolate bar in his mouth and bounded away. Mordecai gave his boss an awkward smile.

"Sorry if we 'failed' or whatever. Adeline's just an awesomely sweet little girl."

Benson ignored Mordecai and left his own office. Benson went out the front door, down the stairs and towards the garage. He was going to speak to Skips. Even if Skips was going to go on with that ridiculous "jealous" nonsense, he needed to talk to someone. But when he approached the open garage door, he saw Adeline hand Skips a bar of white chocolate, which the yeti accepted with a small smile. Skips never smiled. Never. Adeline locked eyes with Benson as she skipped away, and in that second Benson saw how _pleased_ she looked. It sickened him. Skips bit into the white chocolate but guiltily averted Benson's fiery gaze when he stood next to him.

"It's my favorite." Skips shrugged.

"I'm retiring for the night." Pops announced with a yawn. He and Adeline were inside that day, which was a blessing and a curse for Benson. He could watch them closely, but at the same time, he had to see Adeline laugh and swoon over Pops. Adeline giggled with her annoying little voice and was always touching Pops' arm. It was… Unpleasant.

"Goodnight Pops." Benson said. He smiled warmly at him as he left the kitchen.

"Farewell Poppy!" Adeline waved. She sat there laughing to herself for a moment. Then for a moment more. Then Benson sucked on his lips.

"Adeline… Aren't you going to-"

"May I…" Adeline shyly began, then she stopped herself. "I mean, I keep asking Pops and he just laughs at me." Adeline laughed a little louder. "I don't really like when he laughs at me."

Benson felt one million alarms go off inside him; a sea of red flags began to fly. "What did you ask him for, Adeline?"

"A gumball. One of _your_ gumballs."

Adeline's eyes were big and wild and Benson was so put off by her sudden expression and her request for one of his gumballs like it was nothing… "I'm sorry if it seems so inappropriate but my family doesn't allow me much sweets at home and I thought perhaps since you're so kind-"

"No."

Adeline was still smiling, but her eyes blinked so quickly Benson couldn't tell if she blinked at all. "Excuse me, Mr. Benson?"

"You heard me. No."

"But why?"

He responded with a little more harshness than necessary. "Why? _Why? _Because you just can't! You little _freak_!" Benson said incredulously. "Now get out of this house!"

Adeline stood up and left the kitchen. She exited through the swinging door, but came back. With tears streaming down her face. "I'm sorry for offending you, Mr. Benson."

Adeline was gone. Benson stood up straighter, thought about it for a moment, then left the house. Benson went to Skips door and knocked three times. When Skips opened up, he breathed out. Then he surrendered.

"I think I'm jealous of a little girl."

The two men talked about it the entire night, and they confirmed without a doubt that Benson was jealous of Adeline, the little girl in question. But that was the part that confused Benson.

"I can't believe I snapped at that poor girl. I just keep getting these images in my head of her smiling and the little things she said. Then there's the sugar thing." Benson shook his head.

"She's seven, Benson. Seven year olds love sugar to the point of psychosis." Skips said. Suddenly, his voice became sympathetic. "Maybe if you talked to Pops… Revealed certain things to him… You could get over this and stop scaring schoolchildren."

Benson hoped he didn't look as terrified as he felt. "Skips… I can't."

"Suit yourself. But if ya want to stop feeling animosity towards that little girl, I'm afraid ya got no other choice."

Of course Skips was right. He was always right. But he couldn't just tell Pops. So he told Pops that he had said something mean to Adeline and needed to say sorry. Pops was confused.

"What did you say that was so mean?"

"Just a mean name, Pops." Benson said shamefully. He felt like the mean kid in dodge ball.

Pops tilted his head. "What made you say the mean name?"

"Because I'm a jerk." Benson sighed. Then, quietly he added, "A _jealous_ jerk." Pops seemed not to have caught that last part, but a new expression of guilt overtook his usually cheerful face.

Benson pitifully apologized to Adeline when Pops invited her over the next day.

"I was being a bully. And for that, I'm sorry Adeline."

Adeline smiled up at Benson. When he thought about it, Adeline did have an adorable face. "Apology accepted Mr. Benson… Have you changed your mind about the gumball?"

"Oh no, that still stands." Benson laughed stiffly. "But I was rude in answering you. Really, I apologize again."

"Good show! Jolly good show! Apologies have been exchanged, and now we can go on with our tea party!"

Pops wrapped Adeline and Benson in a hug, and Benson felt his body hum.

_Now! Tell him now! _

"Uh, Pops? Can I speak to you briefly?"

Pops grinned at Benson, while Adeline was already pouring tea into the tiny purple cups. "Why of course!" Benson and Pops made their way into the living room, and Benson opened his mouth… But nothing came out. "What's concerning you, Benson?"

Benson couldn't believe it. His voice broke. He literally couldn't speak. Instead, he made unintelligible noises and short, shrill laughs escaped his mouth as he shook he head "no". Benson stopped making the embarrassing noises and nervously laughed, "Have a nice tea party."

Pops worriedly watched the sputtering gumball machine retreat.

Benson wasn't even filling out that week's numbers. He drew angry black circles with his pen on the back of the documents. Why was he beating around the bush like a smitten twelve year old? He was going to turn off the lamps and hate himself at his apartment when he saw that Pops (and his baby grand, astonishingly) were in his office. Pops was blushing.

"Pops." Benson breathed. "What are you doing here? What is your piano doing here?"

"If you remember, my good man… I never got to play you that song." Pops sat down at the bench and motioned for Benson to sit next to him. Benson hesitantly went over and obeyed. The beating in his chest made it hard to focus. "The piece, you might have presumed, is by Cole Porter."

"Of course." Benson said, low and amused.

Pops cleared his throat, took a sip of his lemon water placed on the right side of the piano, then began to play while singing sweetly, _"Looking at you, while troubles are fleeing, I'm admiring the view, cause it's you I'm seeing and the sweet honey dew, of well being settles upon me…" _Pops looked over at Benson, who looked so utterly happy. _"What is this light, that shines when you enter? Like a star in the night, and what's to prevent her from destroying my sight, if she were to center it on me?" _Benson laughed quietly. This was… This was beyond his expectations. _"Looking at you, I filled with the essence of, the quintessence of joy… Looking at you, I hear poets telling of, lovely Helen of Troy… Darling…" _Pops was a deep shade of fuchsia_. "Life seemed so gray, I wanted to end it 'til that wonderful day, that you started to mend it and if you'll only stay, I promise to spend it looking at… You…" _

Pops gently hit the last key, then bit his bottom lips as he waited for Benson's response. Benson was… He felt so overwhelmed with joy.

"Pops. Pops that was wonderful." Benson lauded with a huge smile.

"Really? You can sort of notice the song was meant for a lady." Pops said looking his hands. Benson took those hands and squeezed them.

"These hands are gifted. You're gifted."

"Thank you, Benson." Pops giggled. He looked out of the corner of his eye, then spoke softly. "I'm sorry I've been spending so much time with Adeline."

Benson wasn't even thinking when he said, "It's okay. I was just being a jerk."

"No, no, I was alienating you in favor for Adeline. She was just so pleasant to be with… Most of the time… Sometimes… But that's no excuse. It wasn't fair to you; considering you are by far my best friend."

"Really?" Benson said. That jumpy joyful heart of his made him sound starry-eyed and hopeful. "And that's the truth?"

"Not completely. You're not so much my best friend." Pops admitted. Damn. Benson knew it was too good to be true. He felt his heart sink when Pops abruptly pecked him on the lips. Pops giggled at the dazed face Benson made after he kissed him. "You, Benson, are _so much more_."

"You kissed me." Benson said, a red color creeping across his glass dome. "I did not imagine that. You kissed me."

"Indeed I did." Pops cracked his fingers and bounced them on the piano keys. "I feel like playing Mozart's entire collection!"

"So that was real." Benson nodded with a small smile.

Pops scratched his chin, then said aloud, "I guess I found another reason not to spend as much time with Adeline anymore."

Benson hummed happily. "What is that you're saying?"

"I'm assuming we're going to spend more time together."

"Mhmm." Benson wasn't really listening. His heart was dancing and his brain was running a mile a minute.

"Also… I mean, she was a lovely girl, but she'd eat all the treats before I got any! And the sugar. And she'd never drink any tea."

"That's weird." Benson said absently. Pops had kissed him. Him. And it wasn't a dream.

"Most peculiar. Though that might be because she's deathly allergic to water. She developed the allergy in the asylum."

"Well, that's… Wait. What?" Benson was woken from his infatuated stupor.

Pops nodded. "Adeline's a bit too enthusiastic about confections. To the point of psychosis."

Just then, a very unkempt, inexpressive looking Adeline busted through the office doors and pointed a threatening finger at Benson and screeched like a banshee, _"Gumball!" _She made her eyes roll back, her mouth stretched to the back of her neck and revealed rows of sharp teeth. Adeline flew towards Benson and it seemed like she was going as fast as a bullet when finally she got close enough for Benson to pick up Pops' lemon water and throw it in her face. The "girl" fell to the floor as her body hissed and dissolved with a foul smelling fog. Benson and Pops watched as the last of Adeline became a gross looking white puddle on the carpet.

"I knew the little brat was screwed in the head." Benson growled at the puddle. "You okay, Pops?"

Pops had a hand to his chest. "Adeline…" He shook his head sadly. After about two seconds, Pops perked up again. "I'm going to play you 'Anything Goes'!" Pops kissed Benson on the cheek and it made the younger man beam. As the Adeline puddle sank deeper into the carpet and Benson scooted closer to Pops, he felt the whole world stop just for them.

"Please do, Pops. Please do." said Benson, sweetly.


End file.
